ACA open enrollment 2027: dates and what changed this year
ACA open enrollment 2027 runs November 1 to January 15 on HealthCare.gov. What changed: higher premiums, the 400% subsidy cliff, insurer exits, immigrant rules.
Why it matters
Millions of Americans who buy their own health insurance face higher prices and new eligibility limits in 2027. Knowing the deadlines and rule changes helps them avoid a gap in coverage or an unexpected bill.
A single person earning $64,000 in 2027 will get no federal help paying for a marketplace health plan, while someone earning $63,800 can. That cliff is back, and it is one of several changes facing Americans as ACA open enrollment for 2027 coverage opens on HealthCare.gov on November 1, 2026, and runs to January 15, 2027.
Quick answer: On HealthCare.gov, open enrollment runs from November 1, 2026, to January 15, 2027. Sign up by December 15 for coverage that starts January 1; sign up between December 16 and January 15 and coverage starts February 1. States that run their own exchanges set their own dates, and California’s runs to January 31. Premiums are rising again, subsidies stop at 400% of the federal poverty level, the out-of-pocket cap rises to $12,000 for one person, and some lawfully present immigrants lose access to tax credits.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), the 2010 US law often called Obamacare, created the marketplaces where people without job-based coverage, Medicare or Medicaid buy their own insurance. About 23.1 million people signed up for 2026 coverage, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency that runs HealthCare.gov. That was down from roughly 24.2 million the year before.
For most of them, 2027 brings a bigger bill or a harder choice. The changes below run roughly in order of how many people they touch.
When is ACA open enrollment for 2027?
HealthCare.gov serves most states. Its window this year is the traditional one, but it nearly was not.
A 2025 federal rule, the Marketplace Integrity and Affordability rule, would have ended open enrollment on December 15 for every state using HealthCare.gov, starting with this season. On June 12, 2026, a federal court in Maryland vacated that provision and seven others in a case brought by the City of Columbus and other plaintiffs. CMS then confirmed the November 1 to January 15 window. The government has appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, but CMS has said the January 15 end date applies to this season.
The date that matters most for many people is December 15. Miss it, and there is a one-month gap before February 1 coverage begins.
State-run exchanges are separate. Covered California opens November 1 and closes January 31, 2027, with a December 31 deadline for January 1 coverage. Several other state exchanges also run past January 15, but dates differ, so check the state’s own site rather than HealthCare.gov.
Key dates for 2027 coverage
- Aug 25, 2025: Parts of the Marketplace Integrity rule take effect, including removing recipients of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) from marketplace eligibility.
- Dec 31, 2025: The enhanced premium tax credits, first passed in 2021, expire.
- Jun 12, 2026: A Maryland federal court vacates eight provisions of the 2025 rule, including the shorter enrollment window.
- Jul 16, 2026: The same court pauses eight provisions of the 2027 marketplace rule; the government appeals the June ruling.
- Nov 1, 2026: Open enrollment opens on HealthCare.gov and most state exchanges.
- Dec 15, 2026: Last day on HealthCare.gov to choose a plan for January 1 coverage.
- Jan 1, 2027: New plans and new immigrant eligibility rules for tax credits take effect.
- Jan 15, 2027: Open enrollment ends on HealthCare.gov.
- Jan 31, 2027: Open enrollment ends on Covered California.
How much are ACA premiums going up in 2027?
Insurers proposed a median increase of 15% for 2027, according to an analysis of 276 insurers’ filings in all 50 states and Washington, DC, by KFF and the Peterson Center on Healthcare. Requests ranged from a 1% cut to a 54% rise. Fifty-one insurers asked for more than 25%.
That follows a hard 2026, when the median finalized increase was 20% and the price of the benchmark silver plan (the plan used to calculate subsidies) rose 26% on average. If the 2027 requests hold, KFF said, typical premiums will have climbed by more than a third in two years.
Proposed rates are not final ones. Last year’s median request was 18% and the approved figure ended up higher, at 20%. California’s exchange reported a statewide average rise of 9.9% for 2027.
Insurers gave KFF a list of reasons: medical costs rising about 10% a year, up from about 8%; wage pressure on hospitals; costly weight-loss drugs in the GLP-1 class; and the loss of enhanced subsidies, which pushed healthier, cost-conscious customers out and left a sicker pool behind. Insurers estimated that last factor alone adds roughly 4 percentage points to 2027 rates.
Most enrollees do not pay the sticker price. In 2026, 87% received a subsidy, according to KFF. The subsidy is tied to the benchmark silver plan, so when that plan rises, the tax credit usually rises with it for people who qualify.
Who loses help at 400% of the poverty line?
From 2021 through 2025, Congress’s enhanced premium tax credits removed the upper income limit and capped what anyone paid for a benchmark plan at 8.5% of income. Those credits expired on December 31, 2025. A three-year extension passed the House of Representatives in January 2026 but did not get through the Senate.
So the original ACA rule is back. Tax credits go only to households with income between 100% and 400% of the federal poverty level, measured against the previous year’s poverty guidelines. For 2027 coverage, those are the 2026 guidelines published by the Department of Health and Human Services.
| Household size | 100% of poverty line | 400% (subsidy cut-off) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 person | $15,960 | $63,840 |
| 2 people | $21,640 | $86,560 |
| 4 people | $33,000 | $132,000 |
| Source: US Department of Health and Human Services 2026 poverty guidelines (48 states and Washington, DC); 400% column calculated. Alaska and Hawaii are higher. |
One dollar over the line means no credit at all. KFF worked through one case: a 40-year-old in Indianapolis, Indiana, earning $65,000 paid $316 a month for a particular Anthem silver plan with the enhanced credits. Without them, the same plan cost $477 in 2026 and is proposed at $546 for 2027.
The income that counts is modified adjusted gross income, a tax figure that includes some untaxed Social Security and interest. Contributions to a traditional retirement account or a health savings account lower it, which is why accountants pay close attention to people sitting just above the line.
What is the out-of-pocket maximum for 2027?
The legal ceiling on what a marketplace plan can make someone pay in deductibles, copays and coinsurance for covered, in-network care rises to $12,000 for one person and $24,000 for a family in 2027. CMS set those figures in guidance published on January 29, 2026. For 2026 they were $10,600 and $21,200, so the jump is about 13%.
Premiums do not count toward that cap. Neither does out-of-network care in most plans.
The 2027 marketplace rule would have let bronze plans go above the cap. That provision is one of the eight the Maryland court paused on July 16, 2026, so bronze plans stay under the same ceiling as everyone else.
Which immigrants lose ACA tax credits in 2027?
This change comes from H.R. 1, the tax and spending law signed in July 2025. For tax years starting after December 31, 2026, only three groups of non-citizens can get the premium tax credit: lawful permanent residents (green-card holders), Cuban and Haitian entrants, and migrants from the Compact of Free Association nations (the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau), according to the Congressional Research Service and Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.
Other lawfully present immigrants can still buy a marketplace plan. They just have to pay full price.
Two earlier changes already apply. Since 2026, lawfully present immigrants with income under the poverty line who cannot get Medicaid because of their status are no longer eligible for tax credits. And DACA recipients lost marketplace access entirely in August 2025, a rule that remains in force, the Kansas Health Institute noted in an August 2026 review.
What happens if your insurer is leaving?
KFF counted 11 insurers leaving the marketplace in some or all of their states for 2027 and six entering new states, as of October 7, 2026. The largest exit is Cigna, which is quitting the individual market in all 11 states where it sells plans. It reported more than 350,000 marketplace members early in 2026.
People whose insurer leaves are often matched to a plan from another company if they do nothing. That replacement may have a different network of doctors, a different drug list and a different price, which is the main reason exchanges urge these customers to choose for themselves.
How to compare plans on HealthCare.gov
HealthCare.gov lets anyone preview plans and estimated prices before logging in. Its guidance on comparing plans comes down to a few checks.
- Update your income estimate for 2027. Tax credits are based on projected income, and a stale figure can mean a surprise bill or repayment at tax time.
- Preview plans using the site’s window-shopping tool, which shows estimated prices with savings applied.
- Weigh total cost, not only the premium. Add the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum to the yearly premium. Metal levels (bronze, silver, gold, platinum) describe how costs are split, not quality of care.
- Check the network. HMOs and EPOs generally cover only in-network care except emergencies; PPOs pay something toward out-of-network care.
- Search for your prescriptions in each plan’s drug list.
- Choose by December 15 if you need coverage from January 1.
People with lower incomes should look hard at silver plans. Cost-sharing reductions, which lower deductibles and copays, are available only on silver plans for people who qualify by income.
What the courts left in place, and what they did not
The two Maryland rulings matter more than their dry legal names suggest.
The June ruling restored the longer enrollment window. It also kept an automatic 60-day extension for people whose income records do not match, and blocked a rule that would have cut off tax credits after one year of failing to file a tax return reconciling past credits. CMS said in July that the two-year standard continues for 2027.
The July ruling paused eight parts of the 2027 rule. According to an analysis by the law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, they include the bronze out-of-pocket exception, an expansion of catastrophic-plan eligibility to people below 100% or above 250% of the poverty line who get no subsidy, and an end to standardized plan options. CMS told insurers on August 4, 2026, that standardized options are still required for 2027.
None of this touches the expired subsidies or the H.R. 1 immigrant rules. Those are written into law, and only Congress can change them. H.R. 1 also writes a stricter tax-reconciliation rule into law starting with the 2028 plan year, so next autumn’s enrollment may look different again.
Watch for: the 4th Circuit’s decision on the June ruling, which could bring back a December 15 deadline for future seasons; final approved rates in each state as HealthCare.gov plan data goes live on November 1; and any move in Congress on premium tax credits, which would change subsidy amounts for 2027.
This article is for information only and is not medical, financial or legal advice.
